Chapter 4: Thievery
Darby Residence…
Jack groaned as his new alarm clock woke him from sleep. He quickly slapped the snooze button lightly, careful not to shatter it again. Once he'd shut off the clock bringing back blissful silence into his room, Jack slowly got up, rubbing his hands over his face.
Another day of school, with the added bonus of his sister tagging along. He shuddered, it was going to be a long day, he could already tell.
The teen got out of bed and quickly got showered and dressed before exiting the room. He looked towards the kitchen and saw no one was there. Odds were that Kara was still asleep, they'd forgotten to give the girl an alarm clock.
Sighing, Jack walked to Kara's room, easing open the door to see the girl was fast asleep in her bed. Jack eased his way in and almost felt bad for what he was about to do… Almost.
Grinning, Jack stood next to his sister and placed a hand on her shoulder "Kara, wake up," he said gently shaking her.
Like Arcee, the girl just moaned and slapped his hand away. Jack shook his head and sighed again. Why did all the women he know refuse to wake up when someone gently woke them up?
Returning to his grin, Jack placed his hands on Kara's sides and began tickling her. That woke her up.
Her eyes shot open in shock and she began squirming "K-Kal, STOP!" she squealed.
"Sorry Kara, time to get ready for school and you wouldn't wake up," he said with a grin.
Instead of saying anything, Kara kicked her brother in the chest, launching him through the open door. He crashed into the carpeted floor with a thud as the girl got out of bed. She stormed to her door, glared at Jack as he got off the floor and slammed the door on him.
"And I thought Arcee reacted violently to getting woken up," he muttered as he returned to the kitchen, fixing a small bowl of cereal before they would go. While he snacked on the only sugary substance in the house, he noticed a two sheets of paper on the table.
Curious, Jack picked up the first piece of paper and examined it. It was a note from his mother telling him she'd be at work for longer than usual. She probably wouldn't be home till 12 that night. Jack sighed, he wasn't too shocked by this but he'd let it go.
He noticed a small little attachment at the end of the note that read: P.S I left Kara's school schedule on the table, make sure she gets it.
Jack looked up from the note at the other piece of paper that was folded neatly on the table. Placing his mothers note on the table, he picked up the schedule and folded it open. After a quick breeze through the schedule, Jack found that Kara had the exact same classes as he did.
The teen smiled "Thank you Agent Fowler," he murmured.
"What was that Kal?" Kara yawned walking into the room while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She was dressed in a red top with tan pants and a pair of white sneakers. It seemed that the girl really liked to wear red, and he wouldn't fault her for it. He always wore the same two shirt combo with his typical blue jeans so he couldn't judge.
"Oh, your school schedule, you have the same classes as me," he said passing her the paper.
Kara looked over the class and frowned "Something wrong?" he asked.
"I already know most of this stuff Kal," she said motioning to the paper "Math, science, English, I learned all of this on Krypton before I came to Earth," she explained.
"Well you're not going to school for the education, its more for the social experience right? Learning how humans act, right?" he asked.
His sister shrugged "I suppose you have a point, but still," she looked over the paper again "What's gym?" she asked.
"Oh it's a class where we do physical sports," he explained to her.
"I imagine you do well in that class brother," she said smirking.
Jack rubbed the back of his head nervously "Yeah… I've had to hide my abilities for a while Kara, holding back so that I don't accidently hurt anyone or give away my abilities," he said.
"Well everyone knows who you are, so I don't think you need to anymore," she replied.
Jack sighed "Kara, these people are delicate. I can't abuse my powers just to do unnaturally well in gym,"
Kara returned his sigh "You're hopeless brother," she said.
Jack rolled his eyes and stood from his seat "It's about time to go, you ready?" he asked.
Kara nodded "I take it we're walking since Arcee had to stay at base?"
"Yep," he responded as the two siblings walked out of the house. Looking towards the direction of the school, the two started the relatively short walk to the school. Jack had walked there before, it took about 10 or 15 minutes by foot.
Apparently this was too long for Kara who appeared to be getting antsy. She looked about ready to take off and Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl looked to him and he shook his head.
"Remember what I said about not abusing your powers?" he asked.
Kara sighed "Curse you and your rules Kal," she grumbled.
"I love you to sister," he said with a laugh. The two continued their walk in relative silence until they eventually came to the school. Jack checked his phone to see that the first period had just ended.
He looked to Kara "See that wasn't so bad was it?" he asked innocently.
Kara just glared at him before looking back at the school grumbling to herself in a hushed tone. Jack looked back at the school and used his X-ray vision to see through the school. It seemed the halls were a little less crowded than usual, luck for them.
He turned back to Kara as they stopped at the entrance "You're going to have to go to the principal's office and talk to the principal. He'll give you your locker and welcome you to the school," he explained.
Kara seemed to become more withdrawn at the mention of this. It seemed that for as reckless as his sister could be, she would grow shy whenever she met new people. The idea of meeting the principal probably had her worried sick.
"Hey don't worry about it, the principal is a nice guy, you'll be fine," Jack said trying to comfort her.
"Thanks Kal but do they all know that you and I aren't…" Kara trailed off.
"Human?" he finished.
She nodded in conformation "Yeah they all know, don't worry they're all accepting of it. Pretty sure most of the school has gotten over it," he said confidently.
Kara let out a minor breath of relief "Alright, let's get this over with," she grumbled. Nodding, Jack opened the doors and the two walked into the sea of people. Unlike before when everyone had stopped to stare at Jack, no one paid the pair any mind, something Jack was grateful for.
"The office is just down the hall to your right," he said to Kara pointing down the hall. Kara nodded her thanks and walked off to the office. She tried her best to avoid eye contact with the others, despite this she could feel the occasional glance thrown her way.
But to her relief she'd quickly managed to find the office and knocked on the door "Come in," a strong voice said from inside.
She eased open the door and looked inside the office. It was a well organized office, with several filing cabinets on either side, files stacked next to and on them. There was a desk in the center of the room with two chairs in front of it. The desk itself looked sturdy if not a little cheap, and was covered in papers and various miscellaneous items. A computer monitor was placed in the corner and she had a feeling that the keyboard was on a sliding under the main desk.
The Principal wore a button down shirt with a tie and black pants. He was a tall man, towering over even Jack or Kara, and seemed to be in decent shape, with a natural tan and black hair. He had hard but kind looking brown eyes and black hair that was just starting to grey. He appeared to be a very kind and understanding man. He wore a small nametag that read Principal Norman.
"Please sit down," he said motioning to one of the chairs.
Kara nodded and sat down, only slightly trembling "Now you must be Kara Darby, correct?" he asked.
"I am," she answered, thankful she had better control of her voice than her brother.
The principal looked down at a sheet of paper "I didn't know that Jack even had a sister," he said.
"You know my brother?" she asked.
The Principal smiled "Kara, the whole school knows your brother after his little throw down in the town. But I've known him far longer and always had suspicions that he was more different than he let on," he explained before moving on.
"I do have one question though Kara. Are you like your brother?" he asked.
"You mean… not human?" she asked. The principal nodded in confirmation.
"No, I'm not human, I'm Kryptonian," Kara admitted, afraid of what comes next.
The principal smiled "Then I'm honored to be the first principal to have two alien teenagers coming to my school," he said and stood up handing a slip of paper to her.
"Here is your locker number Kara, I'd recommend you find it first before going to class," he suggested.
Kara nodded "Thank you Mr. Norman," she said, happy to see that her brother wasn't lying about the principal being a nice guy.
She walked out of the office and made her way to her locker number. Figuring out the combo on the slip was easy enough and she opened the locker checking out the various books or supplies she might need. Since math was first on her classes she grabbed a math book and closed the locker…
Only to see Vince standing there with a smug grin on his face. Kara inwardly groaned, she remembered meeting that smug jerk in the alternate dimension when she'd gone shopping with Amber and Dusk. He'd tried hitting on all three of them before Dusk planted him on the ground. Now though she wasn't sure what to do if the jerk tried it.
"Hey, you're new here right?" he asked.
"Yeah…" she said warily stepping back. If Vince noticed he gave no sign.
"Well me and some of my friends are going out for a race. If you want I could let you tag along," he said.
Kara opened her mouth to respond when another voice interrupted her "Are you hitting on my sister Vince?" Jack demanded from behind the bully. Vince whirled around to see Jack standing there and visibly gulped.
"Darby! She's… I mean your sister?" He asked obviously terrified.
A red glint passed through Jacks eyes "You didn't answer my question Vince," he growled.
"Ugh… no I was just…" and he took off running unable to come up with any excuse.
Jack watched him leave and chuckled before turning to Kara "You alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine, does that usually happen at school?" she asked, pointing her thumb towards the direction Vince ran in.
"Yeah, don't let it get to you, you're new here the guys are going to be swarming over you for a while," he warned gesturing for her to follow.
Kara frowned at this and realized today was going to be longer than she'd thought "Though since you are taller than most of the guys in school you might scare most of them off," Jack quipped as they made their way into math class. The result was a slap upside the head from his sister.
"I deserved that," he admitted as the two took their seats at their desks. After that little exchange class promptly started and Kara knew she was going to be in for a long day. Maybe for humans the class would be challenging, but she'd learned this stuff when she was 8. Granted even by Kryptonian standards she was well educated, but that was besides the point.
About halfway through class Kara had to stifle a yawn, she'd finished the assigned in class work in record times and the notes were boring her. Unfortunately the teacher, a Mr. Brockway, noticed her yawning and stopped writing on the board.
"Am I boring you young lady?" he demanded.
Kara sat up straighter and pointed to herself "Yes I'm talking to you, am I boring you?" he demanded again.
"No offense Mr. Brockway, but those equations are easy," Kara explained.
Brockway narrowed his eyes "That so?" he asked. Jack gave his sister a warning look, but she didn't pay him any attention.
"Yes, it is," she answered confidently.
"Fine, if you believe these equations to be so simple why don't I write one of my 'easy' equations down and you answer it? If you answer it correctly, no homework for a week, but if you answer it incorrectly detention," he said crossing his arms.
Kara shrugged "Sure, why not," she said standing out of her chair.
Brockway huffed and erased the notes on the board and began writing out one of the most difficult equations he could think of. He'd dealt with smart alecks before, and the rest of the class was used to this as his form of punishment for those who didn't show proper respect. So far no one had managed to solve his equations when he got like this.
Apparently he was putting his all in it, because when he was done, Jack felt his brain implode. He was pretty sure that once Math started using numbers as its main form of communication, you were screwed.
Brockway stood away from the board with a smug look on his face "Let's see you solve that missy," he said proudly.
Kara shrugged again and walked up to the whiteboard. She uncapped a marker, looked up at the equation, and began writing out the answer. Not once did she stop, though if one listened they could hear her mumbling to herself in a symphony of various languages, Kryptonian being the most obvious. In less than thirty seconds Kara stood back from the board, the equation finished.
Brockway looked over her answer, and slowly his jaw fell open. His eyes were wide with shock and his fists clenched repeatedly. He turned to look at Kara with amazement.
"H-h-how d-d-did you manage to s-solve t-that?" he stuttered.
Kara smiled "My father was a good teacher," she said with a shrug.
"W-what i-is y-your name?" he asked.
"Kara Darby," she replied before grinning "But my real name is Kara Jor-El," she said proudly.
Brockway turned to Jack who slowly slid into his seat as everyone looked at him. If Kara planned on acting like this the whole day, it was going to be a looong day for him…
Autobot HQ…
Arcee stretched as she sat at base waiting for the time to go pick up Jack and Kara. So far the day had been a dull stretch once Ratchet had finished his checkup on Bulkhead and her.
All she'd really done was made sure to polish and clean her armor, fuel up on some Energon, and then sparring practice.
No con activity what so ever, and she didn't really want to go driving right now. It was fun to drive from time to time, but without Jack something felt… lost. He added to it, like her conversations with Cliffjumper before his death. Only now even more so than ever before.
Arcee sighed miserably as she walked into the main hall, and Ratchet groaned "Arcee, I know you are bored, but can you please go pester someone else about it!?" he demanded angrily.
"Why don't you just go and visit Jack if you're so bored?" he asked.
"Ratchet he's in the middle of school with Kara on her first day. I don't need to add to the chaos she's causing," Arcee said crossing her arms.
Ratchet snorted "Fine, than at the very least can you go check out this small Energon signature I've detected?" he asked.
Arcee raised and optic ridge "Did you forget what we found at the last small Energon signature you sent me too?" she asked.
"It's surface based this time, and I've detected no Decepticon presence this time," he assured her.
The femme sighed "Guess it's better than curbside duty," she said, referencing the current assignments for Bee and Bulkhead who were to watch over their charges parents in case the cons got any ideas. June didn't need any protection, because if the cons ever tried anything they knew that Jack and Kara would hunt them down.
Optimus was out scouting another larger Energon deposit and was regularly reporting in to Ratchet.
Ratchet inputted the coordinates on the terminal and pulled a lever. The bridge swirled to life and the femme walked through. She walked out into a forested area with tall trees and large rocks littering the ground. She pulled the Energon scanner out of her subspace activating it and turning to her left.
She followed the signal for several hundred feet, the signal slowly growing stronger. Her metal feet would occasionally echo against the rocks of the forest, but besides that the forest was very quiet. Serene even.
It made Arcee consider possible places for her and Jack to go later after Friday. After all, not all their dates needed to be public. Sometimes a little alone time could be appreciated. She'd need to talk with the teen and his mother though, since his last experiences in the forest were… less than pleasant.
Arcee shook her head clear of such thoughts as she entered a small rocky clearing. She approached were the signal was emanating from and stopped as a high pitch squeal emanated from the scanner. She looked down at her feet to see a single piece of Energon lying at her feet.
She knelt down by the mineral and lifted it in a servo examining it. It didn't appear to have grown their natural, and the cut looked… uneven, made by a tool that wasn't Decepticon in nature. Question was, why was it out here?
Her processor made the connection right as she heard an odd buzzing sound flying through the air. She turned around just in time to see a bolt of electrical energy buzz towards her. She let out a pained yell as it slammed into her chest, right where her spark was, and the energy flowed into her.
She fell on her side, her systems slowly shutting down. She felt her optics begin to dim right as a group of black and green suited men approached her from the forest. The last thought that went through her processor was her kicking herself for falling into such an obvious trap…
Jasper High…
Jack slammed his head against a wall as the kids filed themselves in for gym. To say it had been a long day would be the understatement of the century. After that little escapade in class, Kara's shy demeanor had practically melted away for all the other classes.
Jack was just thankful that math and biology were first, as she'd been at her worst in that class, science especially. His biology teacher had taken an interest in the two upon finding out they weren't human, but had kept his questions to a minimum…
That is until Kara had come to class and happily proceeded to lecture the entire class on Kryptonian biology. Not just the ecosystems or the planets, but how their bodies worked and how they reacted to the conditions on Earth.
Jack had pretty much wished that invisibility was in his list of powers, but tried pretty hard to disappear anyway. The fact that several kids from that class were now staying as far from him as possible didn't help. A lot of people seemed scared by what he and his sister could do, and right now Jack wasn't happy with his sister for it.
Of course, he couldn't stay mad at her, Kara was to nice for him to. He knew she didn't mean to do what she did but that didn't help her case all that much. He was still trying to decide what to say to her when he saw her next.
At that exact moment, Kara walked up to her brother, dressed in the typical green and white PE uniform "Kal, is something wrong?"she asked, "you've been avoiding me ever since biology,"
"Nothing is wrong Kara, nothing at all," he growled.
Kara narrowed her eyes "That's a load of scrap Kal and you know it," she declared.
Jack turned to her as the rest of the kids were filing in "It's not a problem you could fix Kara," he told her.
She raised a brow "Wanna bet?" she demanded.
"No because there is nothing you could do to get the kids at school to stop looking at me like a freak, like some sort of monster!" he exclaimed angrily.
Kara stepped back from her brother in shock. Jack had never yelled at her before. This had to be worse than he was letting on.
"I spent my whole life trying to go unnoticed in school, and in one class you managed to undo it all!" he yelled.
"Kal, I'm sorry I didn't know that was so important to you," she said sadly.
Jack sighed "It's not your fault Kara, like you said, you didn't know. I should have told you or mentioned it," he said and Kara looked down in shame.
"Hey, forget about it," he said, realizing how bad his reaction was "let's just move on okay?" he asked.
Kara nodded and the two followed the last of the stragglers into the gym. The gym was the general use building of the school with an incredibly high ceiling tall enough to fit Megatron inside it. It had wood floors and a basketball court in the middle, with wooden bleachers that could be pulled in or out on either side of the room.
Currently the gym class was sitting on the smaller side while the Coach, a Mr. Bartling, explained what the task for today was. He was a tall well built man dressed in a similar uniform as his students, but wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.
"Today we are going to play dodge-ball," he announced, eliciting cheers and groans from the audience.
"The rules are simple, hit those on the other team with one of these to get them out," he said holding a red rubber ball "If they catch it, you are out and they can bring back another teammate who got out earlier. If they manage to use the ball they are holding to deflect your shot, neither player is out,"
He stepped to the side and pointed at a blue line in the center of the court "If anyone steps over that line, they are out and everyone on the opposite team gets back in," he explained "There will be no heads shots, no groin shots, or hitting someone while their backs are turned," he looked at the audience.
"We will be playing boys versus girls!" he finished and stepped away as the large group of roughly 60 teenagers rushed onto the court. Jack looked to his sister as they walked onto their respective courts.
"Remember," he started.
"I know, I know, don't use my full strength," she finished.
Jack smiled lightly as he disappeared into the crowd of people. Dodge-ball wasn't usually his kind of game and he tended to stay in the background. He loved the concept, but didn't want to see what kind of damage he could do with one.
"Ready?" the coach asked and several kids kneeled forward aiming to grab the balls at the center of the court (To those who just laughed at that *Slap* get your mind out of the gutter).
"Dodge-ball!" he announced and stepped back as chaos ensued. Kids rushed forward and grabbed the balls running back and flinging them at each other. Contrary to popular belief, the girls tended to do just as well as the boys so both sides stayed fairly even.
Jack just did his best to dodge the throws at him as easily as possible. He heard a whistling sound and turned in time to get hit in the middle of the stomach, getting launched out of court. He landed with an grunt hard on the floor.
He heard a laugh from the opposite court and looked up to see Kara standing there laughing, Miko standing next to her. He should have figured as much, that girl was a bad influence on his sister.
"Darby your back in!" he heard a voice yell and turned to see Vince gesturing for him to get back in, ball in hand.
Jack stood up and walked back onto court before Vince tossed him the ball "You're not going to take that laying down are you?" he asked.
Two weeks ago Jack would have found Vince's behavior a little odd. But after yesterday he could consider the guy at least a good acquaintance if not a decent friend.
Jack grinned, gripping the ball tighter "Not a chance," he said and turned to Kara and Miko, who were talking about something.
Jack slowly stalked forward, deflecting the occasional ball with his own tell he was closer. Miko turned and saw him as he reared back and took off. Kara looked around confused only to focus on Jack right as the ball collided with her feet. She flipped end over end rather comically till she landed face first on the floor, winded but unharmed.
Jack let out a laugh as she got to her, feet glaring at her brother. A girl called her back in before she even left the court and tossed her a ball. She grabbed hold of it and looked at Jack with an evil grin.
"Uh-oh," he said and dived to the side as the ball obliterated the air where he once stood. There was a loud bouncing sound as the ball ricochet off the wall and proceeded to knock the coach unconscious. A quick glance from Jack revealed he was unharmed, just out cold.
Another ball came whistling towards him and Jack dodged it, realizing that both sides had singled out Kara and himself as the main threats. Someone tossed him a ball and he caught it, right as two came flying at him from the girls side.
He ducked under the first one while jumping over the one below him. He threw the ball hard as he did, and was rewarded with a satisfying thunk as he took Miko in the arm, spinning the Asian girl in place before she fell on her back.
Jack landed on his feet and saw something that truly terrified him. Kara leapt from the back of the court with a ball held over head while she flew to him. She slammed the ball towards him and Jack barely dodged out of the way. There was a loud crack as it impacted the floor and bounced up before bouncing off the ceiling.
Everyone looked at the crack in the floor and several boys in unison said "All yours buddy," and several dodge-balls were flung to him as the majority of the boys proceeded to back off, the girls doing the same with Kara.
Jack looked to his sister and she looked back at him with an evil grin. This was going to be quiet the painful battle between the two.
Kara took off running across the ground flinging the dodge-balls at her brother who dodged and weaved the throws. He slid under one and flung one at her , causing her to leap over the ball and twist to face the opposite direction running while Jack fired his own barrage at her.
She leapt over the barrage dodging and weaving as well just like her brother. She twisted in the air and grabbed a ball on bouncing across the floor and tossed it at Jack. There was a boom as he was shot back from the impact and collided with the wall.
Everyone looked at the teen in shock before looking at Jack was currently leaving a good imprint in the wall. He slowly peeled off the wall and landed on his back. He got up shakily, holding his hands over his chest while the others watched.
He looked up and grinned before unfurling his arms. He produced the ball Kara had thrown at him and smirked as the girl's jaw dropped. She stalked off the court and the game resumed…
Elsewhere…
Arcee's optics slowly came back online as she stared up at the cloudy sky. The clouds were dark and grey, no sign of the blue Earth sky. It would probably start raining soon, adding to her horrible day.
She slowly sat up, grunting as she did. She felt a minor pain in her side but ignored it as she stood, trying to remember what had happened. She was scouting an Energon signature, had found it and then…darkness.
She activated her comm. to try and call base. Big mistake. Ratchets gruff voice blared over the comm. "Arcee, I repeat, do you read me?" he demanded.
"I read you Ratchet," she groaned, rubbing her audio receptor.
The medic let out a sigh of relief "Thank the all spark, I've been trying to get a hold of you for several hours," he said.
Arcee perked up "What do you mean several hours? What time is it?" she asked hurriedly.
"2:30," he replied.
Arcee silently thanked Primus for that small blessing, she wouldn't have to wait long to see Jack "Arcee, can you get out of your basic area? I've detected several Decepticon signatures incoming to your position," Ratchet reported.
"Roger that," she replied and cut off the comm. She turned towards the forest and transformed. Or at least tried. All she was rewarded with was a pathetic whine and slight shifting of her form.
"What the?" she asked herself confused. She tried again only to be met with the same result.
"Okay, what's going on?" she demanded, when she heard the sound of jets. She turned to look and saw several cons lead by Starscream transform and land in front of her.
"Why Arcee, how pleasant to see you again," the con sneered, still remembering there last encounter.
Arcee stepped back "Shame I can't extend the courtesy," she growled and attempted to activate her weapons. If she was going to go down, she was going to go down fighting. But again all she was rewarded with was a pitiful whine.
She looked down at her servos in shock and back at the cons, more specifically Starscream who was laughing at her "Well it seems like a certain femme has forgotten how to transform," he taunted before straightening up and pointing a single clawed servo at Arcee, "Seize her," he ordered.
The Vehicons activated their weapons and opened fire while Arcee turned tail and ran into the forest, dodging weapons fire. She tried activating her weapons repeatedly while running but was always met with the same result. Nothing but a pitiful whine.
Arcee commed Ratchet while she ran "Ratchet, I need a bridge NOW!" she yelled.
The medic didn't bother to reprimand her, and several seconds later the bridge materialized in front of her. Arcee stopped briefly to look at her pursuers before rushing into the portal. She emerged into the base running at full speed.
"Close it now!" she ordered as she skid to a stop. The portal closed behind her and Ratchet looked at Arcee.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Cons, they showed up and attacked me," she explained.
"I doubt a few cons could have caused you to be that desperate," Ratchet said suspiciously.
"I couldn't fight back," she admitted looking away "I tried to use my weapons but every time I tried, this happened," she said and demonstrated the pitiful whine that emanated from her arms when she tried to activate her blasters.
Ratchet narrowed his optics "Med bay," he ordered, "Now,"
Arcee nodded and made her way to the Med bay and sat on a berth, waiting for Ratchet to figure out what was wrong with her. The medic approached her and activated his scanner, scanning the femme. He examined the results and let out a small gasp.
"What is it Ratchet, something wrong with my T-Cog?" she asked.
"That's just it," Ratchet said, "Your T-Cog… It's gone,"
A/N: MWA HAHAHA! Another cliffhanger! Okay show of hands, how many of you expected THAT going into the chapter. Those of you I told put your hands down. Anyway, what did you guys think? Good chapter, bad chapter? I need to know! Your reviews make this stuff worth writing! Anyway, remember to PM me with plot based ideas or questions. Adios!